Great Expectations... - Packaging Impressions

By Jean-Marie Hershey

Color management commonly describes measures undertaken to ensure color integrity from design through printed output. “Brand” color management ups the ante, so to speak, by attempting to identify, communicate, and reproduce vivid, accurate corporate spot and brand colors on packaging materials from design concept to shipment. That said, how are brand colors reproduced? What is required to maintain brand color fidelity? Where does color management fit into the production life cycle? To learn the answers to these and other questions, packagePRINTING spoke with two experts on the topic: Iain Pike, business leader, color management, Sun Chemical North American Packaging; and Jan De Roeck, director, solution management packaging software for EskoArtwork.

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Sun Chemical and EskoArtwork recently formed a strategic partnership to integrate access to Sun -Chemical’s SmartColour database of full spectral ink readings inside the EskoArtwork Kaleidoscope color management software. The partnership combines Sun Chemical’s expertise in color management for brand packaging with EskoArtwork’s competency in color-managed workflows.

“SmartColour is based on a large database of more than 100,000 real ink colors, printed on real packaging substrates, with package printing processes,” says Pike. “This means that any color selected from the large (and growing) assortment can be achieved across a wide assortment of packaging-specific applications.” As a result, instead of relying on theoretical results, SmartColour users can rely on a tangible, practical solution that works with real inks on real substrates.

The SmartColour Engine is available under license to partners in the premedia, design, and proofing solutions areas, including EskoArtwork. The process begins when a designer submits a job to prepress for final print color separations. Knowing the specific printing process and substrates, he or she can map colors to real ink SmartColour data and accurately preview them inside the EskoArtwork editor. Brand managers, prepress operators, designers, and converters can all visualize exact proofs and agree on the final results. The prepress operator uses EskoArtwork’s FlexProof to generate a PDF file for remote proofing and the resulting PDF has embedded CMYK profiles. Production jobs that are stored electronically can be referenced to color data, so recurring jobs can be processed quickly

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